Hi all,
Let me shed some light on bugs FELIX-3879 and FELIX-3880: The goal is be able
to link to more detailed information from the configuration (and other) pages.
For example we have the Web Console configuration with some terse description
of the properties. It would be helpful if we could draw a help button which
leads the administrator to a web page providing more in-depth information about
the configuration, the configured service or such.
IMHO the solution proposed by FELIX-3879 and FELIX-3880 is too complicated and
out-of-band, particularly because it uses additional requests to load potential
data. It also opens up for breaking the web console alltogether.
How about a different approach:
(1) We define a service interface
public interface HelperProvider {
public String getHelp(String topic);
}
The service returns an URL pointing to a web page providing more information.
(2) Topics are just strings consisting of a domain (e.g. bundle, configuration,
component) and an identification (e.g. bundle symbolic name, configuration PID,
component name) separated by a slash:
configuration/org.apache.felix.webconsole.internal.servlet.OsgiManager
bundle/org.apache.felix.webconsole
(3) Multiple service can be registered which are queried in service.ranking
order. The first non-null response is used.
(4) That URL is the used as a link behind the help button. If there is no URL,
the link button is disabled.
Only "high-level" help is supported for configuration, bundles, etc. Property
level (in the case of configuration) information is available in the
descriptions with more details to be provided by the configuration-level page.
WDYT ?
Regards
Felix
